Pilot light control



Sept. 24,1935. IE,W.SCHNEPP ETAL 2,015,318

PILOT LIGHT CONTROL Filed Feb. 6, 1933 Patented Sept. 24, 1935 UNITED s'm'msv PILOT LIGHT CONTROL Emil W. Sohnepp, Colton, and Louis W. Schnepp,

San Bernardino, Calif.

Application February 6, 1933, Serial No. 655,302

1 Claim.

Our invention relates generally to the gas burners ofhousehold or domestic gas burning appliances and more particularly, to an automatically acting control for the pilot light that is associated with the gas burner and the principal object of our invention is, to provide an automatic pilot light control that is relatively simple in construction, inexpensive of manufacture and which will act automatically to close the gas inlet orifice to the burner in the event that the pilot light is for any reason extinguished.

Further objects of our invention are, to generally improve upon and simplify the construction of the existing forms of pilot light control devices, further, to provide an automatic control that may be readily associated with practically all forms of gas burners now in general use and further, to provide an automatic pilot light control that does not require the use of a separate or specially formed valve in the gas supply line that leads to the burner.

A further object of our invention is, to provide an improved pilot light control that is capable of being readily adjusted so as to suit varying conditions of gas pressure and heat developed by the pilot light and further, to arrange the closure for the inlet gas orifice to the main burner so that when said closure is seated to cut off the flow of gas through the orifice, said closure is subjected to the pressure of the gas in the main or line that leads to the gas burner.

A further object of our invention is, to provide an automatic pilot light control of the character referred to that is composed of a minimum number of parts that are capable of being easily and cheaply manufactured and assembled, thereby enabling the device to be economically employed upon practically all domestic or household appliances such as automatic water heaters, household heaters and gas burning furnaces.

With the foregoing and other objects in view our invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangements of parts that will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken through the center of a gas burner with its pilot light and showing our automatic pilot light control associated therewith.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail section of the burner (01. its-117,1

part that is provided with the gas inlet orifice and showing the orifice closing member in open or unseated position.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodi- 5 ment of our invention, Ii] designates'the body of a gas burner which is in the form of a vertically disposed tube provided at its upper end with a hollow head H and formed through the side wall of said head are gasjet openings H2.

The lower portion of the tubular body It of the burner, is provided with a plurality of inlet openings l3 for the admission of air that mixes with the gas as it passes upwardly through the burner body and a gas supply pipe It is suitably connected to the lower end of the burner body.

Formed in the lower portion of the gas burner body, just below the air inlet openings i3 is a horizontally disposed partition l5 and seated in the center thereof is a short plug l6, through the center of which is formed a vertically disposed gas inlet orifice ll.

Formed in the underside of the plug 16' and communicating with the lower end of orifice ll, is a concave seat [8 that is adapted to receive a closure l9 and the latter being substantially spherical in form.

Formed through the closure I9, is a vertically disposed threaded bore 20 that receives the threaded lower end of a small rod or wire 2| and which latter extends upwardly through the orifice I1 and upwardly through the center of the burner body Ill.

The upper end of this rod or wire 2i is permanently secured to the lower end of an adjusting screw 22, which latter is positioned a short distance below the head I l of the burner.

Access to this screw 22 for the purpose of adjusting the same is had through an opening in the top of the head ll and which opening is nor- 4.0 mally closed by a removable plug 23.

Screw 22 is screw-seated in the end portion of the horizontally disposed arm of an L-shaped thermostatic member 24, which latter is formed of two or more integrally connected plates or strips of thin metal having different co-efficients of expansion and the vertical leg of this thermostatic member is detachably secured in any suitable manner, preferably by means of a screw 25 to a lug 26 that projects upwardly from the edge of the burner head II.

The vertical leg of this thermostatic member is disposed adjacent to the head 21 of the pilot light that is associated with the burner and which pilot light is carried by the upper end of a gas supply pipe 28 that is positioned at the side of the main burner.

The horizontal arm of the thermostatic mem ber 24, passes through a stuffing box 29 that is located on the side of the burner body 59 and which stufiing box contains a body 30 of resilient fire-proof packing material, such as fibrous asbestos.

When the parts of the automatic control are properly assembled and installed, said parts occupy the positions as illustrated in Fig. 1 and as long as the pilot light is lighted, the heat from the pilot light jets heats the thermostatic member 24 so as to flex the lower portion of the vertical leg thereof outwardly and thehorizontal leg thereof downwardly and under such conditions the screw 22 and rod 2| are moved downwardly a sufiicient distance to maintain the closure IS on its seat l8, thereby maintaining the orifice I! in open condition and consequently permitting gas to flow through said orifice when the gas supply valve located in line I4 is opened.

If for any reason the pilot light is extinguished, the thermostatic member 24 will cool rapidly, thereby flexing to its normal condition so that the horizontal arm of said member will move upward and through screw 22 and rod 2 l, the closure l9 will be drawn onto its seat l8, thereby closing the orifice I! and consequently cutting off the further supply of gas to the burner.

When closure l9 rests upon its seat, it is subjected to pressure of the gas in the supply pipe I4 and which pressure acts to force the closure onto its seat, and thereby eliminate any possibility of gas leakage upward through orifice IT.

The resilient fibrous packing 30 permits the horizontal arm of the thermostatic member to move upwardly and downwardly during its flexing movements and such resilient packing effectually prevents the leakage of gas outwardly through the stufiing box and in this connection it will be understood that pressure of the mixture of gas and air within the upper portion of the burner body is considerably less than the pressure of the gas in the mains and supply line to which the burner is connected.

The operation of the automatic control may be very accurately regulated by adjustment of the screw 22 in thefree end of the horizontal arm of the thermostatic member and also by adjustment of the closure l9 upwardly or downwardly on the threaded lower end of rod 2|.

Thus it will be seen that we have provided a pilot light control for gas burners that is relatively simple in construction, inexpensive of manufaoture, quickly responsive in the event that the pilot light is extinguished and which control device is very eifective in performing the functions for which it is intended.

An especially desirable feature of our invention is the minimum number of parts required to produce the control device and further, the construction whereby the flow of gas into the gas burner is controlled without the use of an extra valve in the burner or in the" gas supply line that is connected thereto.

It will be understood that minor changes in the.

size, form and construction of the various parts of our improved pilot light control may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claim.

We claim as our invention:

The combination with a gas burner and a pilot light, of a plug seated in the lower portion of said burner, said plug being provided with a gas inlet orifice, the upper portion of the wall of the burner being provided with an opening, a stufling box surrounding said opening and located on the exterior of the burner, a body of resilient fibrous fire-proof material contained within said stufling box, an L-shaped thermostatic member having the upper portion of its vertical leg secured to the upper portion of the burner and positioned adjacent said pilot light, the horizontal leg of which thermostatic member extends through said stuffing box, the openings in the wall of the burner and in the outer wall of the stuffing box being larger than the cross sectional dimensions of said thermostatic member, a screw seated in that portion of the thermostatic member that projects into the burner, a rod depending from said screw and extending through the gas inlet orifice in the lower portion of the burner and a closure carried by the lower portion of said rod and adapted to rest upon the seat at the lower end of said gas inlet orifice. 

